International Women's Day protests block Barcelona highways at rush hour

Two International Women's Day protests blocked major highways into Barcelona at rush hour on Wednesday morning. 

A demonstration on Meridiana Avenue led to five kilometers of queues on the C-33 from Montcada i Reixac and seven kilometers of delays on the C-58 from Ripollet, according to tweets from the Catalan Traffic Service. 

On the other side of the city, a protest on Diagonal Avenue, caused initial tailbacks of more than six kilometers on the B-23 from Sant Feliu de Llobregat. 

Traffic began to flow again on Diagonal around 9.30am, by which time the traffic jam on the B-23 had grown to 12 kilometers, reaching Molins de Rei. 

The A-2 was also affected with very slow traffic towards Barcelona for eight kilometers between Pallejà and Sant Joan Despí.